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Convert Your Prospects with Perfect Product Names

When people get a new pet, they’re faced with choosing a name. My sister and I named our first bunny Cuddles, and that name followed him (and us) through infancy to full grown bunnyhood.

Cuddles makes you think of a soft and sweet snuggle monster, right? It's an immature name, too, so you can imagine the bunny was named by children. Face it -- the name Cuddles conjures up certain ideas!

But this isn’t just an issue for me and Cuddles (may he rest in peace). Businesses are faced with naming, too. Not only do they want to don their products and services with great names, but they'd like these names to increase sales, downloads, and clicks.

In a sea of conversion optimization, content marketing, and competition, what names lead to trust, authority, and conversion? How do we choose good names?

Here are some tips for naming products and plans that will help your company increase conversions.

1. Play into Aspirations

You want a name to hint at possibility and potential, to make customers feel as though your product or service is going to help them reach the next level.

That’s why it makes sense to name products and plans things like “Entrepreneur, Executive, and VIP.” These names suggest what the person is if they step up and buy the product.

Zirtual, a virtual assistant platform, does an excellent job of showing people what they can be if they buy the right package. Because Zirtual is for busy entrepreneurs and professionals in need of some help, important sounding names work wonders.

Zirtual has four plans: Basic, Entrepreneur, Executive, and VIP. Entrepreneurs faced with making a choice at the moment of conversion are likely to choose a name that sounds important.

Who wants to be basic when you can be VIP?

What you can do:

Play into who your prospective customers are when naming products and services.Think more about what your customers want to be rather than what they currently are.__

Visit the websites of others in your industry to see how they're naming their packages. You might easily be able to 1-up them!

Go beyond names like 'Standard' and 'Basic' with positive and inspiring product and package names.

2. Consider Keywords and Search

Consider what people will search for when they're looking for what you sell, especially if they're not sure what the solution they need actually is.

Example? Graystone Industries manufactures and sells a pond and fountain product that uses dissolved oxygen to blast away stubborn gunk that grows on rocks in ponds and waterfalls.

First, the company named the product Ecovessance, but it did poorly as it gave customers no idea what the product was, which was a huge problem considering that people don't realize such a product exists. So, in an effort to tie the product name to the problem it solves, Graystone Industries tried both Pond Debris Scrub and Natural Oxygen Based Pond Debris Remove, which also didn't do so hot.

Finally, they hit the jackpot with Pond, Stream & Waterfall Cleaner.

This name most accurately describes what the product does as well as incorporates the keywords that customer most often use when searching for pond cleaning solutions.

Graystone Industries split tested this most of last year on an Ebay account and with several of their wholesale resellers. This name change has increased those sales by nearly 400%. Graystone Industries is rolling out a brand wide change for this coming year.

What you can do:

Figure out the exact problem that your product solves. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has no idea your product exists and create names based on what they'd be searching for.

Pick a product or service that's not doing well and test a series of new names.

3. Call a Plan Popular

It doesn’t seem like the words “most popular” would make a big difference, but calling a certain package “most popular” or “best seller” can do wonders.

Everyone wants the approval of their friends, family, and peers, so it makes sense that people would buy the most popular plan. The 'most popular' and 'best seller' monikers tap into the psychology of persuasion-- people do what everyone else is doing in order to feel comfortable.

Because of this, naming a product or service as the most popular will encourage users to buy more.

What you can do:

Determine what plan is your best seller or most popular _(Don't just go for the most expensive. Be honest about what people like).
_

Clearly label your best seller or most popular item on your website and in other marketing materials.

Use the opportunity to refine what you sell. Why is the particular product a best seller?

4. Appeal to the Human Side

Yeah, yeah, we've read all about how being human is good for business, but appealing to people's human side will make them chuckle and smile, in turn increasing loyalty and conversions.

Emma Email is an email marketing company with a name that goes beyond convention. The company’s logo is an image of a sophisticated, glasses-wearing girl. Guess what her name is? Emma.

“There is no actual Emma here, though we have an Emily, an Erin and a Jerry. The name “Emma” (beyond being a handy abbreviation for email marketing) speaks to our goal of making the web-based experience more approachable and more personable.Emma has an inherently human quality to it, after all. It’s a real name — like Antoinette or Frederick, only shorter.”

What you can do:

Step off your corporate high horse when it comes to naming your products. Imagine you're creating names for your best friend, rather than a hard to reach customer.

Embrace the weird. 'Super Dazzle Razmatazz Riding Ponies Plan' isn't necessarily a bad idea for a name. It might make people chuckle, drawing them towards you.

5. Be Consistent

There’s nothing that stops a sale or download like confusion about what you offer, so be consistent when it comes to your product names.

For example, don’t call your product “The Best Package” in one place and just “Best Package” in another. Use the same language everywhere on your site to prevent any confusion.

In general, prioritize consistency when it comes to copywriting and naming. If you use an alternate spelling, use it all over your site. Make sure your product names are easy to spell and that your website copy is simple and clear.

In other words, don't do this:

What you can do:

Carefully go through your web site, email campaigns, and other marketing materials to ensure that your names are consistent.

Create an Editorial Style Guide to ensure that anyone else who is writing for you will know the rules.

6. Don't Be Afraid to Test

The only way you know if names are increasing conversion is if you test them out. Will Mitchell tested his company name against a number of others before settling on StartupBros. He tried JediStartups and IncomeLabs, too.

Source: StartupBros

Ultimately, Will found out that StartupBros performed 13% better than IncomeLabs, which was his original idea for a name.

What you can do:

Decide on a name you want to test and get a 30-day free trial at Unbounce.

Read this post on how to name your business to learn more about coming up with names.

Find That Baby Naming Book and Get Creative

It turns out, there’s a lot to be gained if you pay attention to naming conventions. A name allows people to talk about your product and service effortlessly, and it can position you above the competition.

Coming up with creative names for your products and services, as well as finding creative uses of these names, can help you gain more conversions and keep customers happy.